Milkyway nightscapes

Worth having a go dude... was really surprised at the result...

The info posted here is awesome.. Roger Clark's site is a wordy read but gives great insight too...

I also used the Android app 'PlanIt! for Photographers' to help my plan the shot...

I use the photo pills app but the thing that is annoying is that in Scotland the galactic centre barely ever gets above the horizon when it's dark. Comparing your 4.5 degrees from last night the app is saying 0.2 degrees where I am

Last night at the desert

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Ktik​S5

Hi folks - been enjoying the awesome work in here for awhile, but just finally got myself a tracking mount so I could join in on the fun!

I'm experienced with "standard" landscape photography, but still have some rather noob-like questions when it comes to this stuff.

1) What specialized PP software does everyone use for astro and nightscapes, if any? Is Lightroom/ACR in combination with Photoshop sufficient, or do third party programs make all the tasks associated with astro a ton easier? I just downloaded DeepSkyStacker today and am trying to get acquainted with it - after an hour or tinkering, the results don't necessarily seem any better than stacking in PS and using a Median blend, but I've only begun to scratch the surface.

2) Does anyone with an Exmor sensor (e.g., most modern Nikon or Sony full-frame bodies) have trouble with purple amp glow around the edges of your images? Shooting with a D610, this has always been a grating problem for me when I try long exposures at night. Even when shooting an identical dark frame at the end of my astro series to subtract from the stack, there's *still* some amp glow that becomes noticeable when you crank contrast. Surely there's a solution -- otherwise, no one would be posting flawless looking astro images made from hour-long stacks!

First time doing a pano at night. 7 shots combined. Standard tripod. Shot with my 7D Mkii and Sigma 18-35 F1.8 @ 18mm, F1.8, ISO 3200, 25 seconds

Was surprised at how well it came out for a first try.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/KVL3​Ta

brettjrob wrote in post #18089336
Hi folks - been enjoying the awesome work in here for awhile, but just finally got myself a tracking mount so I could join in on the fun!

I'm experienced with "standard" landscape photography, but still have some rather noob-like questions when it comes to this stuff.

1) What specialized PP software does everyone use for astro and nightscapes, if any? Is Lightroom/ACR in combination with Photoshop sufficient, or do third party programs make all the tasks associated with astro a ton easier? I just downloaded DeepSkyStacker today and am trying to get acquainted with it - after an hour or tinkering, the results don't necessarily seem any better than stacking in PS and using a Median blend, but I've only begun to scratch the surface.

2) Does anyone with an Exmor sensor (e.g., most modern Nikon or Sony full-frame bodies) have trouble with purple amp glow around the edges of your images? Shooting with a D610, this has always been a grating problem for me when I try long exposures at night. Even when shooting an identical dark frame at the end of my astro series to subtract from the stack, there's *still* some amp glow that becomes noticeable when you crank contrast. Surely there's a solution -- otherwise, no one would be posting flawless looking astro images made from hour-long stacks!

IMO, with a tracking mount there's no point in stacking widefield shots. I've tried repeatedly stacking and doing serious editing with PixInsight using my 24mm lens and it's just not worth it. If you have a tracking mount I'd focus on getting good polar alignment and then taking 2-5 minute exposures at lower ISO levels (400 or 800) and then learning how to layer sky shots with foreground shots (if you want to do landscape astro). If you want to explore some deep sky object astrophotography you should learn to stack in which case Deep Sky Stacker is sufficient to start and programs like Photoshop are more than capable of doing good DSO edits. After using PixInsight for almost a year now, it's an amazing piece of software, but the learning curve is tremendously steep.

I shoot with a D600, there is a purple amp glow when temps get higher, you can correct for this by taking what are called bias frames and dark frames, this is a basic explanation of those:

http://deepskystacker.​free.fr/english/faq.ht​m

That is exactly why I have tracker coming, shorter exposure times. I had a look at the faq's in that link. I had heard about the flat frames and dark frames, but not 10-20 of each.
Don't understand that part..but don't have to..
Gary

toad8787 wrote in post #18089668

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/KRxz​vJ Milky Way over Waskesiu by Todd Yungwirth, on Flickr

excellent shot

Grabbed this at the cottage, didn't realize at the time I had caught a meteor or two

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/KQRt​Mz

anything for apps good for apple?

mattmiller03 wrote in post #18089872
anything for apps good for apple?

photo pills

Brettrob, you should put this post in Astronomy Talk & not the photo sharing section. I will move it over there where you will get more feedback.

pdxbenedetti wrote in post #18089434
IMO, with a tracking mount there's no point in stacking widefield shots. I've tried repeatedly stacking and doing serious editing with PixInsight using my 24mm lens and it's just not worth it. If you have a tracking mount I'd focus on getting good polar alignment and then taking 2-5 minute exposures at lower ISO levels (400 or 800) and then learning how to layer sky shots with foreground shots (if you want to do landscape astro). If you want to explore some deep sky object astrophotography you should learn to stack in which case Deep Sky Stacker is sufficient to start and programs like Photoshop are more than capable of doing good DSO edits. After using PixInsight for almost a year now, it's an amazing piece of software, but the learning curve is tremendously steep.

I shoot with a D600, there is a purple amp glow when temps get higher, you can correct for this by taking what are called bias frames and dark frames, this is a basic explanation of those:

http://deepskystacker.​free.fr/english/faq.ht​m

Many thanks for sharing your experience.

Honestly, looking back at the last 10 pages, your widefield shots are exactly what I'm going for. And they're among the best I've ever seen -- on this forum or elsewhere! If I could get even one image similar to yours on my upcoming trip to the PNW, I'd be more than happy with my iOptron purchase.

A few more questions, on that note, using this post as a reference point:

1) When you say "4 shots for the sky, 4 shots for the foreground" -- do you mean you're only stitching together 8 separate pano frames, and there's no stacking involved for any portion of the image?

2) How do you get a perfect series of frames for stitching while using the iOptron mount? For daytime panos, I just rotate the pano base of the ballhead -- but doing this with the base of the iOptron would obviously wreck the polar alignment.

3) Do you shoot any dark frames and/or bias frames for these widefield landscape shots? If so, do you shoot them for each of the 8 frames? If not, do you use the in-camera LENR? Any moonless 2+ minute landscape shots I've tried have been fairly horrific in terms of hot pixels and purple amp glow, with LENR only helping to tame the problem, rather than eliminate it. Your foreground results here look astonishingly clean for the type of exposure settings you list (unless there was some ambient or moon lighting).

4) I take it you don't use any specialized astro software like DSS or PixInsight for the widefield stuff?

9 shot pano. Canon 35 f/2 @ 2.2, Canon 6D, 15 sec, ISO 2500

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/KNpQ​kJ